NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Spring is coming. And baseball is in the air. Spring training has already started and March Madness is well underway. In today's Top 5 Tips we're going to give you a cheat sheet on how you can follow your favorite sports team this year.

A trip to the ball game for a family of four costs almost $165, according to Team Marketing Report, 6 percent higher than a year ago. But if you act quickly, you can see your teams in spring training for $5 to $25.

Every March baseball teams head to Florida or Arizona to begin practicing. But you have to move fast if you want a seat. You'll have a better chance of getting tickets with teams from the Midwest since many northerners living in colder areas are more inclined make a trip to Florida or Arizona in March.

And generally midweek games are easier to get tickets for than weekend games, except when families with kids are on spring break, says Adam Lewin of Fantasy Baseball Index Magazine. Plus, you should try to get to the games at least two hours early. You'll be able to get players to sign autographs.

If you want to get tickets for high-profile northern teams like the Yankees, the Red Sox and the Cubs, you should go directly to the Major League Baseball Web site at www.mlb.com. This site will connect you to your team's box office. And it's also helpful if you want schedules, seating chart information and ticket prices for other teams.

Check out the Web site and click on Spring Training and then "vistor's guide" to get a rundown of where and when your team practices. You'll also get the stadiums' seating chart.

If you're not content to just watch baseball, you can be part of the action...if you have the cash. You can take the field with your favorite former players at Fantasy Baseball camps. For about a week you don the uniform of your team and get coached by former pros.

For example, if you're an L.A. Dodger fan you can fly down to Vero Beach, Florida and spend a week playing and chatting up players. If the Dodgers aren't your cup of tea, there are a number of fantasy baseball camps hosted by teams like the New York Yankees, the Chicago Cubs and the Baltimore Orioles.

Some teams have one or two camps a year, but most of them take place in January and February. Keep in mind, this isn't a cheap excursion though. Generally these camps can run about $4,500 a week. For more information, check out baseballfantasycamps.com.

There are sports tour operators who reserve tickets for big events in bulk. They can set you up with hotel stays, tickets and transportation. But you'll be paying top dollar if you go this route.

Generally sports tour operators make a profit of about 10 percent and 35 percent on packages they sell, according to Michelle Putnam of the sports travel agency Premier Sports. And individual travel agents may add on any surcharges they want to their sports packages. A standard final four package that includes a three night stay and three NCAA games is about $1,560 per person, according to Putnam. And that's not including airfare.

Unless you absolutely HAVE to have tickets to a very popular game, you should just consider making arrangements yourself. "Stay away from high-commission entities," says Lewin. It's not that hard to navigate areas where teams play. All you'll need is a roof over your head and a map. And after all, isn't that just part of the fun?

The one thing you don't want to do is to buy tickets from scalpers. You never know if the ticket they are trying to sell you is legitimate. Don't give anyone cash, advises Jeff Wills of roadtrips.com. "Always use a credit card." Legitimate ticket sellers will usually take credit cards and this is added protection in case it turns out the ticket was bogus or the game was cancelled. Scalpers have become so adept at making their tickets look like the real thing, that it is so hard to tell what is legitimate.

You too can be a mascot. It's not a pipedream, says Dave Raymond, a veteran mascot. As a mascot you'll get to go to every game, hang out with the players and travel with the team. Of course, you must be willing to wear a costume, perform in front of crowds and be able to fend off fan rage. The entry-level salary is about $28,000 but can reach into the six figures, according to Raymond, who also runs a mascot marketing business at Raymond Entertainment Group.

To get started on your mascot career, you'll need to send in a resume and a video tape of your audition to various teams. Of course, it helps if you had some previous training as a character on the collegiate or minors level. But if you have great non-verbal communication skills, acting or dancing experience and you are in good physical shape, you may want to check out postings at www.gameops.com or www.workinsports.com.

And if you have some spare cash, about $400 worth, you can even enroll in Raymond's two-day mascot boot camp that will give you ideas on how to fine tune your character and your routine. For more information go to www.raymondeg.com.

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Gerri Willis is a personal finance editor for CNN Business News and the host for Open House. E-mail comments to 5tips@cnn.com.